14 DAY TRIAL // Eddie Taylor is in trouble and he knows it. Washing 50,000 dollars worth of dirty money is a hard task even for a big organization that has access to a lot of businesses, the muscle to scare off rivals, and a good relationship with the authorities, cultivated via bribes.
Our hero only has a friend, a vague idea of the local establishments that might deal with him, and a week to get the job done or get a bullet. So he starts off searching for a bar or casino that’s willing to take his money, which is actually the cartel’s money and make the legit again.
But only having partners is not enough. They need to be constantly motivated to take the risks associated with cleaning. And, from time to time, rivals might learn about a location that has a solid amount of clean money and will raid it. Eddie is ready to work all day to clear his debt but the stress might kill him before the bad guys can.
Welcome to Goodland is created and published by Big City Lab. I played a Stream preview version of the game. The title is focused on management-game concepts, set in a universe inspired by the likes of Breaking Bad.
Our protagonist, Eddie Taylor, has seen what a Mexican cartel can do and is ready to do their bidding. That involves laundering a lot of money from them, while interacting with the power structure of this, apparently, small city. The writing aims to be prestige series in its seriousness but feels mostly functional.
Welcome to Goodland’s mechanics seem inspired by board games. Players will have access to agents, each with a complete set of skills and the ability to pick up upgrade points and perks. To wash money, they will first need to search, spending money to find a business willing to play ball.
Once that happens, it is time for a negotiation, where either persuasion or coercion can be applied before a dice roll determined the result. Get a few locations up and running and it becomes important to make runs, either supplying them with dirty money or picking up all the currency that they manage to clean. The player's agents have limited energy, which limits the number of issues they can deal with.
Both cash gifts and intimidation are needed to keep all the businesses in line and make sure they efficiently do their job. Gangs are also ready to send thugs to steal their cash, which leads to another dice-based mini-game to defend it.
The police can also get involved and gamers also have to deal with random events that can hurt their operations. As the game progresses and more money needs to be cleaned, the game will introduce bigger choices that will define how they interact with both the cartel and law enforcement.
Welcome to Goodland is a very simple-looking game. Characters are clearly inspired by pop-culture archetypes but the city is incredibly bland. The number of potential actions is limited, making it easy for the interface to guide the players. The soundtrack is the best part of the presentation, with plenty of jazz elements, underlying the sense of subterfuge and danger the title tries to evoke.
Conclusion
But the title’s biggest problem might be its gritty and dark approach. For gamers who know its inspirations, it will seem a pale imitation. Welcome to Goodland needs to deliver some interesting twists to make up for that.
A preview code was provided by the publisher.
